Handbuilding Ideas

I have recently run out of ideas for new projects to make. I have no potters wheel so the only pieces I can make are handbuilt. I love making teapots and am very interested in making more of them but I'm also interested in making other functional ware as well. Any new ideas would be awsome, so please reply back soon!

I have recently run out of ideas for new projects to make. I have no potters wheel so the only pieces I can make are handbuilt. I love making teapots and am very interested in making more of them but I'm also interested in making other functional ware as well. Any new ideas would be awsome, so please reply back soon!

I have recently run out of ideas for new projects to make. I have no potters wheel so the only pieces I can make are handbuilt. I love making teapots and am very interested in making more of them but I'm also interested in making other functional ware as well. Any new ideas would be awsome, so please reply back soon!

Hi, Brittany. With handbuilding, you're only limited by your imagination! May I suggest making teacups to go with your pots? Google 'handbuilt stoneware pottery' and also look at all the ideas that are posted on Etsy. Use the video library at Ceramic Arts Daily and look around in all the gift shops and anywhere that may sell pottery in your area, as well as just looking at store shelves. Just about anything you like can be fashioned out of clay, as long as you know the basics of construction. I make freeform plates and trays and impress organic material into them. Square is popular, I think. A lot of people like my irregularly shaped trays and buy them for all sorts of uses.

Look around at flea markets and antique malls for metal or wooden objects that you could use for molds. I look for things that have the texture on the reverse that is deep enough to impress into clay. Then roll your slab, smooth it (on both sides), and place it over the object, after applying a release agent of some kind (corn starch is good) on a ware board. For ware boards, I use scraps of sheetrock cut to manageable sizes and duct taped around the edges to prevent the gypsum from contaminating the clay. Then after you get your slab into position, hold it about waist high and let go! After you drop it flatly two or three times, you can gently press the clay and trim it. Then wait for it to get medium leather hard so you can flip it over and take the mold off. If you enjoy doing that, you'll spend a lot of time searching for other things you can use and then all your flatish trays and plates won't get monotonous to make.

Mugs can be made from slabs, as well as soap dishes, coasters, and trivets. Not everything has to be flat, though. I'm teaching a friend to slab build and she's made very nice serving dishes. I make pendants, too, and she's made some little essential oil jars to hang on a string. Try large pinch pots or coiled items for different looks and textures. Happy creating!

I work only in slab and I love it. You can be so creative look up humping and slumping techniques. I also wrap around my clay to create cylinders and other shapes. I will try to attach some images for you but look at my web site for ideas. I have found this year that platters are the in thing and are selling very well.

You like to make teapots how about doing a complete tea service? Cups, saucers/smalll plates, tea bag holders, cream and sugar, small spoons and even a tray to set the whole set on. I am impressed that you make tea pots I hear they are very hard to do right and have not gotten up the nerve to try one yet. You should post some photos of the stuff you have done I am sure we'd all like to see them.

I took your advice and make some a little set for my teapot including a cup, cream holder, and suger cup ( whatever it is called ). They're not professional but I do believe I am improving. The first teapot I ever made was very sad and the handle actually broke off because it was so weak. The teapot behind the matching pieces is actually an idea I got from this site, and worked out quite well. The other one to the right is something I made today after getting an idea from a google search I did (Thanks for that advice too). I have been dying to make japanese and chinese style teapots, but I want them to be symmetrical and do not currently have a potter's wheel. Well, there ya go!

That is very, very cool. I will try that. Right now, I have some of my old platters around my backyard fence to prevent the squirrels from coming underneath. These would be a really great alternative or addition to my garden. Love this idea.

Love the photo! Very cool set I like the quirky cool style. I can see them in some really vibrant colors to capture their uniqueness. Keep up the great work, teapots are sooo hard according to the books and I am too chicken to try one. You live south of Atlanta I live north of Atlanta. Clay King will definitely be a good site for your to try shopping at, I can get stuff from them in less than a week.

I recommend the magazine Pottery Making Illustrated it shows a variety of stuff each month including unique ways people are interpreting classic working methods all in a way that even a beginner can enjoy reading and learning.

Since you like teapots you might try the book 500 Teapots. Shows you lots of pictures of different pots and you would probably enjoy it.